First of all, don't be discouraged -this recipe really is easier than it looks!
Using your pot with stackable steamer start boiling water to cook the pasta. Once the water is boiling, throw in your 6 oz of conchiglioni pasta and lower to simmer/warm.
Meanwhile, cut your head of broccoli -including at least 1 inch of the stalk -into tiny pieces (about the size of a dime.) Throw them into the steamer and cover with the lid. I like the broccoli medium well, but you can steam them as long as you like!
Now rinse your chick peas and throw into the blender. Add all spices and a bit of soy milk (up to 1/4 cup if necessary.) Blend until it's a slightly wet, textured consistency. Set aside.
When the pasta is almost done, remove and drain into the steamer directly over the broccoli (or in a separate steamer if you wish, it really doesn't matter.) Run the broccoli and pasta under cold water and drain.
Now remove the pasta from the strainer onto a cutting board or other dry surface. Have your chick pea mixture, steamed broccoli, pasta sauce, grated vegan mozzarella and cooked pasta ready!
Here's the easy part: Preheat the oven to 400+ degrees. Pour a thin layer of pasta sauce into the 9"x9" pan. Now you will stuff each shell individually. Just place 2-6 pieces of broccoli into each shell; enough to cover half of the inside of each one. Now, using a teaspoon, fill with chick pea mixture to the top edge of the open shell. Place open side up into the sauce.
Repeat until you have the entire pan filled with stuffed shells. Now pour the entire can of sauce on and around the shells. Top with 1/2 cup (or more if you want) vegan gourmet cheese. Spray the cheese with your oil mister.
Throw in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Don't be afraid to let it brown!
You can always substitute tofu for the chick pea mixture, if you wish. I was already testing this recipe when I realized I was out of tofu - so I substituted chick peas. And it is great! Trust me!

Preparation Time:

Cooking Time:

Servings:

4-6

SO HOW'D IT GO?

I made some changes - I didn't have large shells but only the mini ones, so I tossed the pasta with the chickpea sauce. To blend the chickpea stuff well, I had to add more soymilk, and I added even more to be able to just toss it with the pasta and broccoli. I still layered it in the baking pan and baked it. I used shredded mozzarella Daiya on top. It was really good. I wasn't so sure about the chickpea filling at first, as it just seemed like a creamy hummus, but all together with the other ingredients, it went well. Daiya cheese is great with this.

Do you think using a homemade nutrition yeast cheese sauce would work well over the noodles? I can't find any vegan cheese around in the stores that I actually like :(.Regardless, the recipe looks delicious! I'm going to try it after I pick up some groceries!